Saunders: Couric covers causes on tour

Published July 11, 2006 at midnight

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Katie Couric's current six-city "listening tour" has been called - often in less-than-flattering terms - an exercise in high-octane promotion.

Still, don't ignore an important fact: In each of the six cities, Couric is involved in legitimate fund-raising causes.

In Denver on Thursday, Couric will host a luncheon for the Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers Foundation.

Like or dislike her (there's a growing polarization), Couric's interest in health issues, particularly those cancer-related, is not a publicity gimmick.

In recent years, Couric's husband, Jay Monahan, died of colon cancer and her older sister, Emily, was a victim of pancreatic cancer.

Back to her "listening tour."

While this was essentially Couric's idea, the journey was co-coordinated with the help of publicist Matthew Hilzik, who had similar duties during a 1999 "listening tour" that transformed Hillary Rodham Clinton from a former first lady into a U.S. senator.

Rome Hartman, executive producer of the CBS Evening News, which Couric begins anchoring Sept. 5, told Television Week: "We are not going to furiously scribble down everything that everybody says and then turn around and remake the newscast in the image of this."

Hartman added that the tour is a "genuine effort to hear people out."

"I think we're going to come to the end of it and be able to compare notes and say, 'There were some really interesting, consistent threads.' "

Denver is the fourth stop, following visits to Minneapolis, Dallas and Tampa, Fla.

She'll arrive Thursday to take part in a morning forum at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, featuring a cross-section of 100 people (The session is closed to the press).

Following at 11:30 a.m. is the fundraising luncheon at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Couric will hold a brief press conference after the luncheon and then visit with station personnel at CBS 4.

Initial plans for Couric to tape station promotions have been canceled because of her tight travel schedule.

She flies to San Diego Thursday night for a similar Friday schedule before moving on to Pasadena for a Sunday press conference with TV critics from around the country.

Then it's a visit to San Francisco for more listening.

The tour has produced some press grumbling because of lack of interview time. Hartman said the schedule was designed to be "comfortable and as natural as possible" during the town hall sessions.

"If you have cameras and lights, it changes the conversation."

NEWS NAMES: Dan Rather is signing on with HDNet for a weekly news series, Dan Rather Presents, premiering in October.

The high-definition network, owned by Mark Cuban, currently reaches 3 million subscribers on DirecTV and Dish satellite systems.

Meanwhile, Rather's fondness for homespun bromides follows him around. One Philadelphia columnist noted that Rather "is hotter than a Laredo parking lot" about how the way CBS ended his career there.

• Tom Brokaw anchors Global Warming: What You Need To Know (7 p.m. Sunday, Discovery Channel), a two-hour documentary designed to provide an overview of the controversial subject. Included are interviews with leading experts who provide a variety of opinions about the worldwide situation.

TV LOVE STORY: Do you recall Beauty and the Beast?

For more than 80 die-hard fans, it's a series that will never die, even though it aired on CBS for less than three full seasons.

The 17th annual Remember the Magic Convention for series fans was held in Denver over the weekend.

Compared with Star Trek-oriented groups, fans of Beauty and the Beast keep a low profile.

The series, which premiered in September 1987, was a fantasy love story dealing with a young New York lawyer (Linda Hamilton) attacked by hoodlums. She was befriended by a powerful but sensitive "man-beast" (Ron Perlman) who, with the facial characteristics of a lion, lived in caverns and tunnels beneath the city.

"We love the show for many reasons but mainly because of the romantic chaste relationship - something rare on television," says Kay Anderson, a Denver member of Beauty and the Beast Inc.

"Lots of viewers - mostly women, but a few men - still have a passion for the series.

"We watch the taped episodes on a regular basis."

The annual conventions always benefit a charity, with last weekend's proceeds going to Food Bank of the Rockies.

Guest of honor was Jay Acovone, who portrayed the deputy district attorney on the series.

Next year's convention is in Los Angeles.

TODAY'S NOSTALGIA: On July 11, 1965, ABC's premiere of The Dating Game got unexpectedly high ratings when CBS and NBC covered live a press conference by U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara about the Vietnam War.

Dusty Saunders is the broadcasting critic. Saunders@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5137

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